Looking Ahead to the ADC 96th Annual Awards

The awards are coming, and the juries are getting ready!

The ADC 96th Annual Awards are coming, and we have assembled a phenomenal group of creatives to serve as jury members, debating, discussing and eventually awarding the very best in advertising, design, illustration, photography, digital and motion from the past year.

Judging the ADC Annual Awards is both a challenging and a rewarding opportunity. We reached out to this year’s jury members to learn what they are hoping to get out of the experience.

“I look forward to the opportunity to see what others look for in the work. We all bring different perspectives based on our own careers. What I find smart or insightful isn’t always what strikes the attention of someone else. So it will be interesting for me to see what makes everyone else tick.”

“First and foremost, I am looking forward to it; I know that it’s going to be interesting. I am hoping for inspiring and enlightening discussions, to forge new acquaintances and gain new perspectives. At the same time, I feel a great responsibility to discover the truly unique, innovative, maybe even startling, relevant solutions that moves our industry forward and inspire us all.”

“The first part of judging can be a pretty tedious affair and I often ask myself “why the hell am I doing this?” The real fun starts when the group starts to discuss the work. I love to hear different opinions and arguments over the work. And one should never be afraid to change your mind over a piece of work. It is not a sign of weakness.”

“…one should never be afraid to change your mind over a piece of work. It is not a sign of weakness.”

“To me, award shows mean great work. The opportunity to really “look under the hood” and debate that work with creatives from all over the world is incredible and always leaves me more inspired and informed than ever. I have no doubt that the ADC experience will be just as rewarding.”

“The best part of judging any award show is the camaraderie you find with other judges. It’s a chance to see how other thought leaders in this business think about the work. Having the opportunity to put together a body of work for the ADC Annual Awards is big responsibility. It still stands as one of the most coveted awards in our business.”

“Judging a show of this magnitude is an immersive experience: it’s a week of inspiration, exposure to brilliance, moments of intense jealousy and passionate conversations about where the industry is headed. It never fails to energize me and give me a fresh perspective on what we do.”

“The idea of seeing (really seeing) and analysing some of the best creative and beautiful projects in the world is just a great way to get inspired. And having the responsibility in our hands to judge them is also a great opportunity to analyse our own work.”

“As a longtime practitioner of digital design, I hope to discover true innovation as well as a sense of continuity and timelessness within the fast-paced, trend-thirsty digital field. When I look at the awards I’ve judged and won in the past decade two clear divisions come to mind: projects that can remain in one’s portfolio permanently and projects that can’t. Sadly, it is in the field that we tend to innovate the most, where our work sometimes turns ubiquitous shortly after we complete the last round of QA.”

“My goal as a jury member is to uncover projects that are here to stay, works that serve as inspiration beyond the year in which they are judged, works that can be pinned and shared for years to come. With this year’s award focus on craft, this objective should be easily attained.”

“The prospect of in-person judging alongside the most cutting-edge international peers is especially pertinent. Remote judging is an excellent way to shortlist submissions, but in complex situations (like a tie) live debate is incomparable.”

“…I hope to discover true innovation as well as a sense of continuity and timelessness within the fast-paced, trend-thirsty digital field.”

“I hope to be able to provide a slight level of influence through my choices that shows that the best idea wins. The winners in this category should represent not only the top work, but also where the industry is heading, and I like to think that our actions as jurors help shine a light on the direction the future of motion graphics will take.”

“Being part of this exquisite and international group of people is an outstanding experience in itself, but the profound discussions about originality, innovation and state-of-the-art execution are fundamental – to define that fine, but clear line between good and excellent work.”

“It’s such an honor — thanks for inviting me and all of us. I’m just so psyched to get a chance to take a step back and better see the debates, the ideas, and the questions that the design community is putting forth into the world, so as to help give a second life to, give context for those amazing contributions. Design makes a difference — sometimes its impact is seen even better, looking back.”

“I am hoping to see, and vote for, truly original work; work that is not solely out-sourced from a ‘content provider’ but built from-the-ground-up by the originating person/agency. I am fatiguing on internet-derivative, data-driven, social media-justified advertising and design.”

Robert Nakata
Director of Design and Founder72andSunny (Netherlands)
Design Jury

“As I judge events. I always learn from the rest of the jury, from the craft and concept I witness looking through all of the work. I’ve always come back to build lectures and thinking from the experience. Besides the act of prioritizing and making sense, I also witness process. That is my joy. It’s awesome to see how some one small seemingly inconsequential creative decision becomes the path to the best outcome.”

“It’s the conversations with hopefully some disagreements. It’s a privileged situation to have access to a room full of extremely senior and hopefully really smart creative professionals that you can steal a lot of great ideas and quotes from.”

“…a good dose of humility, which hopefully will be offset by the free booze. There’s free booze, right?”

“I approach judging advertising as if I am the conscience of the industry. That means weeding out whatever feels stale, derivative or boring, then looking through what’s left and championing the most shining examples of what our industry can do.”

“Judging gives me great pleasure and I am really excited to see good works and honor the people behind it. I have been working as a juror in national and international juries. For the last 14 years I have also been working in some universities judging final projects and I was so pleased about all the great work I got to see. Fortunately, I do not have a gene for envy, so I am able to share joy with the nominees.”

“Historically, I was never been in great favor of award ceremonies when it comes to creative works. Not because I’m against it, but more because I find it can be conflictive.”

“Thus I pose myself the question: how does one judge or grade something creative?”

“Ranking and grading, as we know from sport and performance, seem so strange in terms of creation. This is why I have always found it difficult to understand how one creative project could be better than another. How can one compare two projects and based on what criteria? Especially when the final outcome often depends on the subjectivity of the jury members.”

“It is thanks to Ben, my old friend and fellow partner at Bonsoir Paris, that I got to know ADC back in 2012, when he received the ADC Young Guns award. It was at this moment that I understood that an ADC award was much more than a trophy to put up on the wall.”

“This club has much more to offer; not only as a reflection of international trends of today, but also an encyclopedia of the best projects and creations of the past. It is more than just a simple award ceremony.”

“To me, it goes so much further. For generations, ADC has supported and connected creatives from across the globe and helped generate a strong and influential international network.”

“I feel very proud and grateful to be a member of this jury and I think it is a big honor to find one self within such a talented bunch of people.”

“Other than my personal taste and interests, I will look for audacity and instinct and not simply the best conception or execution when selecting among the projects. ”